Monthly Archives: August 2005

Google launches talk, an IM and VoIP service. I haven’t tried it yet because it takes two to talk, so I have merely a sad list of “invited” people.
Like anything Google touches, I expect it to be amazing. I’m still sticking with Trillian as my primary IM system for now. They offer something no one else does: everyone else.

Akamai, an internet content delivery company, launched a cool news meter last week. Apparently Akamai touches so much internet news content that they’re able to view their own usage data and create a relative index of how much news consumption there is in any given five minute period. I remember reading that Reuters was going to do something similar with their giant sign in Times Square. They built the sign, but I’m not sure they ever actually created a news index. Akamai’s index doesn’t have much data, but it’s an interesting few numbers that could be worth syndicating to news sites or widgets.

I’m back in Boston after a great trip back west to northern California. Congratulations to Graeme and Karenna for marrying each other.
Part of my trip included a visit to Lake Tahoe, the second deepest lake in the U.S.. I don’t remember ever having gone there before, though photographic evidence suggests otherwise. Lake Tahoe is a truly beautiful natural area that is surrounded, at least on the south side, by kitschy 70’s buildings. I felt as though a turquoise turtleneck t-shirt would be appropriate attire in the winter. This, perhaps, results from the confluence of California money and Nevada vice, a combination that spawned the charming village of “Stateline”, which features quickie wedding chapels and slot machines next to a clear-water lake and jagged mountain peaks.
Tahoe was my main course, but I washed it down with a healthy swig of San Francisco, my former home, and a truly world-class town.